‘Brave’ Japanese Trailer & Poster: Dark Fairy Tale Adventure

Disney has been receiving a lot of flack lately, due to what many people are saying is a mishandled marketing campaign for this week’s release of John Carter. The same might be said for the manner in which the Mouse House has been selling U.S. audiences on Pixar’s latest computer-animated production, this summer’s princess fairy tale, Brave.

Previous trailers for Brave have highlighted the film’s impeccable animation style, but mostly focused on the family-friendly humor and the “empowered princess” aspects of Pixar’s first venture into the realm of fairy tales. That changes with today’s new Japanese-dubbed trailer (with English subtitles) which features a whole lot of new footage, and dives right into the heart of the film’s darkly epic adventure storyline.

You can learn more about the actual plot of Brave – and the dangerous quest which the fire-haired Princess Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) must take on therein – by watching the Japanese trailer (followed by the poster) for Brave, below:

This Japanese promo for Brave makes it all too clear: Tangled with a bow and arrow, this ain’t. If anything, this new trailer makes the movie look more like a 3D animated variation on Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (with a Scottish flavor).

Brave also comes off as an invigorating departure from previous Pixar titles; not only in terms of its dazzling Celtic aesthetic and Pictish design-inspired animation style, but also due to its grand-scale fable narrative which co-writer (and original director) Brenda Chapman has admitted was heavily influenced by scarier and more threatening stories set in faraway lands, as conceived by such authors as The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.

Princess Merida faces a mystical challenge in 'Brave'

While Brave - which is also Pixar’s first film with a female protagonist – doesn’t look to feature so many of the nightmare-inducing elements often found in those famous storytellers’ “children’s tales,” the movie does come off as more ominous and action-packed than any of the studio’s prior releases; still, it appears to provide entertainment for both underage and adult moviegoers alike.

That’s all to say: Brave both looks and sounds like a nice return-to-form for Pixar, which should help to wipe away any lingering memories of last year’s underwhelming Cars 2.

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Brave is slated to hit 2D and 3D theaters in the U.S. on June 22nd, 2012.

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motoko 2 years ago

Wow! that Japanese trailer has a completely different feel. It makes it seem far more magical and less whimsical. Looks like it’s catering more to Japanese tastes and sensibilities that what a western audience would normally get from Disney/Pixar.

AT LAST.
I`ve finally found somebody else that sees the same thing in the film that I do.
After seeing the film in the Cinema I didn`t quite get it at first but after doing some thinking realised that there was a whole second storyline running through this story which is a darker version of the main plot.

Have`nt spotted it?
Well, remember that the whole thing is based round the idea that the main character has to `mend a bond` to fix everything and this is being read as just fixing up her relations with her mother.
But there are TWO bonds broken in the story, apply the witches ryme to te other one and this is what you get,
“Fate be Changed” In order to lift the spell from Mor`Du
“Look inside” See the spirit of the man inside the demon bear
“Mend the bond torn by pride” release his soul in order that he can join his brothers in the next world.

This is very much how witches spells work in old folk tales which always seem to end up meaning something different to what the characters think in the story but this is the first time I`ve run across one that works on most of the audience as well!

Why do people miss this?
Well, in following the broken plot threads backwards I notice that they all seem to lead back to the `Lost Kingdom`story earlier in the film.
All we get is essentially “The old king decided to give the rule to his four sons jointly, the eldest objected and the kingdom fell”.
Now, I dont know about you but when I saw that was “He murdered his brothers then, didn`t he!”.

I think though that originally there must have been far more to this story that we need to know thats now missing from the english language cinema release but perhaps is still in the Japanese adaptation.

Do I detect the trail of a very large black and white mouse winding through this.
Hopefully we might get a hint as to whats missing when the DVD comes out as there seems do be an extra `Legend of Mor`Du` short in it.
Cynical marketing ploy?